Abbess, born of a noble family in Assisi, C Italy. She gave up her possessions and joined a Benedictine convent (1212), and in 1215 founded with St Francis the order of Franciscan nuns, known as the Poor Clares. She was canonized in 1255. In 1958 she was designated patron saint of television, on the grounds that at Christmas 1252, while in her cell at the Convent of San Damiano, she both saw and heard the Mass in the Church of St Francis in Assisi. Feast day 11 August.
